


New Rule: No Fighting Each Other

by iwasnthere622



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood, Fighting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Language, Non-Graphic Violence, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 23:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11519292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwasnthere622/pseuds/iwasnthere622
Summary: Zack ignores the team, Jason is not happy, and they decide to solve their problems with their fists.





	New Rule: No Fighting Each Other

Zack laid out on the top of his train car -- what, it was clearly abandoned and so he'd claimed it as his -- watching the sky slowly darken as the sun set. He phone buzzed again in his pocket, vibrating against his leg, but he ignored it as he had been for most of the day.

 

Instead, he reached out and grabbed his drink, lifting his head just enough to not choke as he took a sip, resettling with an arm under his head for a cushion and letting his mind settle back into drifting.

 

By the time the sky had cycled through blues to pinks and purples to brief but bright yellows and oranges and succumbed to blackness, his phone had gone off a dozen more times and he'd finished his drink.

 

He heard someone approaching -- it was hard to be totally silent up here, with all the lose rock around -- but stayed as he was. "'M not in the mood for the lecture, Trin."

 

"Too bad," Jason said, reaching up to yank Zack off the top of the train car by one of his dangling feet, pulling hard and fast and glaring down at him when he fell to the ground.

 

Zack yelled, landing hard on his back on the ground, rock dust kicking up in a small cloud around him before settling.

 

"What the fuck, dude?" Zack said, pissed, pushing himself up.

 

"Where were you today?" Jason demanded. "You ignored all of our texts, our calls."

 

"Yeah, well, I needed some space, all right, so back off," Zack glared.

 

"Are you serious?" Jason asked, incredulous. "We thought something had happened to you!"

 

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself," Zack said dismissively.

 

Jason was fuming, so mad to find Zack fine and skipping out on them on his own personal whim (so Zack) that he could barely feel any relief at knowing his friend really was fine. "You can't just go radio silent, if the putties--"

 

"I can handle a few putties," Zack interrupted.

 

"You don't know that! Something else could have--"

 

"We fight putties in the pit all the time, or have you forgotten--"

 

"We fight together, that's the whole damn point, you--"

 

"Why have us train solo if you don't trust us--"

 

"If you got hurt and we couldn't find you--"

 

"It's not your job to take care of me--"

 

"Dammit, Zack--"

 

"Jase, I swear to god, shut up or I'm decking you!" Zack said, hands clenched into fists, furious.

 

Jason just glared, his own hands curled. How did Zack not see how stupid he was being? His phone went off and he scowled, pulling it out and sending a quick group text to the rest of the team. _Found him at the train car._

 

"You want alone time? Fine, but you answer when we check in," Jason ordered, pocketing his phone.

 

"You're not my boss!" Zack scowled. "What's the big deal? Be honest, you're not pissed I ignored a few texts, you're pissed I skipped on the do-gooder bullshit!"

 

"Zack," Jason growled.

 

"Newsflash, I don't take orders from anyone, and certainly not from you!" Zack yelled, spreading his arms wide in a clear fuck you gesture.

 

"I'm the team leader--"

 

"Only when we're geared up and I don't see any fucking monsters here!"

 

"Fine! Fine!" Jason yelled, breathing harshly. "But we still need to practice as a team--"

 

"Oh fuck you, I show up to every training session in the pit!"

 

"--but you skipped today! We were gonna clear Mariner Bay today, but we ended up having to do it without you, cause _you_ never showed!"

 

"I'm sure you all managed just fine without me," Zack said sharply.

 

"Managed? Sure but we were all worried about you, especially when you went radio silent on us. Fuck, Zack, Rita _went to Trini's house_ , what if something had cornered you?" Jason asked.

 

"Took you long enough to come looking to make sure I was okay," Zack answered bitterly.

 

Jason threw his hands up. "You're the one who ignored us! Today was a team day, we were helping the Town we destroyed, or do you not remember trashing buildings with our Zords? There's hundreds of people displaced now, businesses and homes gone, these people have nothing--"

 

Zack saw red, leaping forward and punching Jason square in the jaw. "Don't you fucking talk to me about having nothing," he panted, furious.

 

Jason reeled back, spitting out a mouthful of blood, the tenuous leash on his anger snapping and he punched back, fist connecting with Zack's jaw and sending him stumbling.

 

They went at each other after that, punching and not pulling their strength, a well-placed kick sending Jason to the ground.

 

The Red Ranger rolled before Zack could pounce on top of him, pushing off the ground and executing a flip he normally couldn't do without being morphed, feeling his armor trying to come out, trying to protect him, but pushing it back.

 

Zack wanted to fight? Fine. But even as angry as he was, he wouldn't escalate things further by morphing.

 

Zack snarled, chasing after Jason and letting loose, dodging his punches and throwing some of his own, head snapping back more than once, grinning in fierce triumph when he was able to knee Jason in the gut, making the teen double over with a wheeze.

 

"They have nothing?" Zack panted, punching Jason over and over, forcing him to back up, pushing to corner him against the train car.

 

" _They_ have nothing?!" he repeated, slamming his fist at Jason's head and punching a dent into metal instead, knuckles splitting open and leaving a smear of blood behind.

 

" _I have nothing!"_ he yelled, outraged and so, so damn angry.

 

Jason blocked Zack's fists where he could, lashing out in return and catching him in the jaw, the side of his face, on his arms.

 

When Zack tried to kick in his knee, Jason knew it was time to end this, tackling Zack to the ground, the pair rolling around and flipping each other to gain the edge.

 

"You have us, you asshole!" Jason yelled, pinning Zack for a moment before they flipped again.

 

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Kim yelled, running up with Billy and Trini just behind her.

 

Jason and Zack both startled, Zack's punch to Jason's face already in motion and swerving at his surprise, Jason getting his left arm up to block but the blow hit awkwardly, and suddenly his arm was _on fire_.

 

Billy pulled Zack off of Jason, Trini helping him hold the teen back. "Fuck you!" Zack yelled, struggling, still angry.

 

"Jason?" Kim whispered when the Red Range didn't get up, instead curling up into himself and cradling his left arm.

 

"What did you do?!" she demanded, whirling on Zack, who seemed to be deflating as he realized that something was wrong with Jason.

 

"I -- he just --" Zack stuttered, shrugging out of Billy's and Trini's grasps, dropping to his knees by their leader. "Jase?"

 

"I'm fine," Jason grit out, sitting up and looking at Zack, studying his injuries. His lip was bleeding, bruises already forming on his cheek, both arms, and his one eyes was nearly swollen shut.

 

Jason's heart sank, guilt filling him like lead. Fuck, look what he'd done, to his teammate... his friend.

 

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Trini demanded, slapping the back of Zack's head with a crack. "Answer your damn phone!"

 

Kim knelt by Jason, studying him -- blood was smeared at his mouth, bruising at his jaw and one side of his face, on his arms... She reached out a tentative hand to his left arm, which he was still cradling, pulling back lightning fast when he hissed.

 

"I think it's broken," Jason said quietly, focusing on breathing evenly.

 

Billy knelt quickly next to him, pulling out his phone and researching breaks to the bones of the arm.

 

"I..." Zack said, feeling like absolute shit, all anger drained from him.

 

"It's fine, Zack, I'm fine," Jason said.

 

"What the hell? Jason, you look like shit! You both do!" Trini said, arms crossed, standing and staring down at them.

 

"I said it's fine," Jason said sharply, regretting it when Trini stiffened and refused to meet his eyes, knowing she was just worried for them both.

 

"Look," he said, "Zack and I had some... stuff to work out. We're good now, all right?" He looked at Zack, offering a strained smile.

 

"You shouldn't solve your problems with your fists," Billy said absently, mostly focused on his research.

 

"I know, Billy. I'm sorry," Jason sighed. "Zack, you okay? I got you pretty good..."

 

"Shut up, I'm fine," Zack said, shifting to help support Jason upright along with Kim. "Got you good right back, guess I went too far... 'm sorry, man."

 

"It's fine," Jason promised, smiling a bit when Trini sat by Zack's side, pressing into him and reaching out to rest a hand on Jason's leg, connecting them all together.

 

"Where were you today?" Kim asked Zack. "We were worried."

 

Zack stiffened, looking away guiltily. "It won't happen again," he promised softly.

 

"Zack needed some space," Jason defended.

 

"Just... don't ignore us," Trini said, bumping him.

 

"I won't, I promise. I'm sorry," Zack said, pressing back into her.

 

"Based on the discoloration, I think you just fractured the ulna bone," Billy said, finally looking up from his phone.

 

"And?" Jason asked.

 

"Well, this says that it takes 3-6 months to heal, when put in a cast. But I'm thinking if we splint it and you keep it straight and still, you'll probably be fine in a week," Billy answered.

 

"Probably?" Kim questioned.

 

"A week?" Zack added, stomach sinking further. Fuck, he was such a fuck up...

 

"Well, we know we heal at an accelerated rate, but I haven't got the exact time parallel figured out yet, and we've never fractured anything before. This will be good data, but for now I can only estimate," Billy answered.

 

Kim nodded. "Right. Okay. We'll need to make a splint, then--"

 

"I can't let my parents see that, how the hell would I explain it?" Jason asked, frustrated with himself. If he'd just gotten the block in place in time, or controlled his anger in the first place...

 

"You can stay with me this weekend, we'll figure out the rest later," Zack said, feeling terrible.

 

Jason hesitated, and Zack added, "C'mon, this is my fault, let me help."

 

"No way," Jason protested. "I shouldn't have fought you, this is my fault, I didn't block in time."

 

"I shouldn't have fought _you_!" Zack protested.

 

"New rule: no fighting each other," Trini said firmly, Kim and Billy nodding and Jason and Zack looking away, both ashamed of themselves.

 

"Billy, can you help me with the splint?" Kim asked, standing, the pair needing to find something to work.

 

Billy nodded, patting Jason's shoulder and standing up to help her.

 

"C'mere, lemme patch you up," Trini said, hand gently taking Zack's chin to turn his head to face her, reaching for her backpack and pulling out the basic first aid she'd starting carrying around to wipe away blood and dirt.

 

Zack hissed, welcoming the pain because he deserved it, letting Trini do what she wanted and watching her go into the train car to find some more water to use to wash Jason off with next, turning back to the Red Ranger when he squeezed his hand.

 

"It's not your fault," Jason said. "I'm sorry I didn't realize how all this affected you; we can help out, with your mom. If you let us."

 

Zack stared at him, stiffening but otherwise not getting angry and defensive as he would have if Jason had said this earlier. "It's stupid. I'm so selfish, those people really did lose everything. It's just... so hard to see them get free hand outs when I have to fight so hard for the stipend my mom gets at all, we have to prove every little thing while those people are showered with support."

 

"I'm sorry," Jason repeated. "But you have us."

 

Zack chuckled a bit. "Man, you are so cheesy."

 

Jason just grinned, glancing up when the rest of the team returned, glad to see them not holding this against Zack, all of them including and supporting him, too, proud of his team. They'd be okay.


End file.
